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Concept
United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara
Summary
The United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (بعثة الأمم المتحدة لتنظيم استفتاء في الصحراء الغربية; Mission des Nations Unies pour l'Organisation d'un Référendum au Sahara Occidental; Misión de las Naciones Unidas para la Organización de un Referéndum en el Sáhara Occidental; MINURSO) is the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara, established in 1991 under United Nations Security Council Resolution 690 as part of the Settlement Plan, which had paved way for a cease-fire in the conflict between Morocco and the Polisario Front (representing the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic) over the contested territory of Western Sahara (formerly Spanish Sahara).
MINURSO's mission was to monitor the cease-fire and to organize and conduct a referendum in accordance with the Settlement Plan, which would enable the Sahrawi people of Western Sahara to choose between integration with Morocco and independence. This was intended to constitute a Sahrawi exercise of self-determination, and thus complete Western Sahara's still-unfinished process of decolonization (Western Sahara is the last major territory remaining on the UN's list of non-decolonized territories.)
According to the United Nations, MINURSO was "originally mandated in accordance with the settlement plan to:
monitor the ceasefire;
verify the reduction of Moroccan troops in the Territory;
monitor the confinement of Moroccan and Frente Polisario troops to designated locations;
take steps with the parties to ensure the release of all Western Saharan political prisoners or detainees;
oversee the exchange of prisoners of war, to be implemented by International Committee of the Red Cross, (ICRC);
repatriate the refugees of Western Sahara, a task to be carried out by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR);
identify and register qualified voters;
organise and ensure a free and fair referendum and proclaim the results;
reduce the threat of unexploded ordnances and mines.
Official source
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